I am designing a 2-way active speaker around the wonderful dipole ESS Heil tweeter. The speaker will be a 2-way in an MTM configuration with 2 8” woofers in separate sealed enclosures above and below the open back AMT. I am going to build it out of layered Baltic Birch ply bolted from the front baffle to the rear. The layers will be 3 3/4” glued into sections that will be constrained layered with 1/8” sorbathane between them. It will be a substantial and rigid cabinet and will also be totally modular for tweaks and upgrades.
I will be using a miniDSP 4X10HD active crossover with 6 separate amp channels for each driver in a two-way configuration with both woofers crossed over at about 2000hz. The nice thing about the miniDSP is that setting experimentation is virtually unlimited.
I’m an experienced woodworker with a decent shop and years of studying audio and a bit of speaker design. I’m not an engineer and the really technical stuff is over my head, but the vision for this speaker is pretty far along.
If you DIY folks would be so kind, perhaps you could share some pointers for this type of design and point my to some light reading or watching on driver specs, crossover design, the big dos and don’ts.
Thanks in advance and I’ll share my journey on this thread.
I will be using a miniDSP 4X10HD active crossover with 6 separate amp channels for each driver in a two-way configuration with both woofers crossed over at about 2000hz. The nice thing about the miniDSP is that setting experimentation is virtually unlimited.
I’m an experienced woodworker with a decent shop and years of studying audio and a bit of speaker design. I’m not an engineer and the really technical stuff is over my head, but the vision for this speaker is pretty far along.
If you DIY folks would be so kind, perhaps you could share some pointers for this type of design and point my to some light reading or watching on driver specs, crossover design, the big dos and don’ts.
Thanks in advance and I’ll share my journey on this thread.
Check out Udemy online training. Acoustics 101 and 201. I wish those were available when I started out in this hobby many moons ago.
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There's a few good threads about using the Heil AMT in this forum. Just do an advanced search with the keyword Heil and select the "search titles only" option
NISS_MAN, great suggestion, I will check it out.
kec, I’m thinking Eton 8-612 Orchestras. The specs seem to fit my needs, the price is reasonable, and seems like a solid brand.
Ernperkins, I will search Heil AMT to the far reaches of this forum!
Thanks guys!
kec, I’m thinking Eton 8-612 Orchestras. The specs seem to fit my needs, the price is reasonable, and seems like a solid brand.
Ernperkins, I will search Heil AMT to the far reaches of this forum!
Thanks guys!
I've use the Heils on many projects and have followed many projects using the Great Heil. Almost to a project the midrange sounded too thin. If you are going to buy 2 drivers per cab, I would suggest a woof and a midrange vs. 2 woofers. I brought my speakers to the last AK fest and this big black guy sat and listened for 2 hours in the sweet seat and at the end he told me that they were the best use of the Heil he'd heard. I politely thanked him and he told me I didn't understand. He worked was Dr. Heil for 30 years and even Dr. Heil throught they made better tweeters then mid/tweaters.
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I think you're off to a good start crossing the AMTs where they're comfortable, rather than too low like many try to. They may be able to take an 800hz crossover, that doesn't mean it's their best use. Like the last poster said, these are better tweeters than midtweeters by all accounts.
Be prepared to experiment with the XO frequency, the center to center distance will likely be a stretch for 2khz. The beauty of doing this actively is that a) you'll be able to iterate rapidly, and b) you'll be able to do very steep slopes easily if needed, and c) you'll be able to do any response shaping you can dream of on the AMT, which seems to be very useful with them.
I would personally look at the following drivers like the SB23, RS225p, 830869, and NE225 rather than the Etons... these drivers are known quantities and excellent value. The Etons may be great, but traditionally they have had dated motor designs and are not as commonly used, so you may be breaking new ground only to find they are not as good as expected.
Be prepared to experiment with the XO frequency, the center to center distance will likely be a stretch for 2khz. The beauty of doing this actively is that a) you'll be able to iterate rapidly, and b) you'll be able to do very steep slopes easily if needed, and c) you'll be able to do any response shaping you can dream of on the AMT, which seems to be very useful with them.
I would personally look at the following drivers like the SB23, RS225p, 830869, and NE225 rather than the Etons... these drivers are known quantities and excellent value. The Etons may be great, but traditionally they have had dated motor designs and are not as commonly used, so you may be breaking new ground only to find they are not as good as expected.
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